Desk love

So we had this desk that we got as a hand-me-down from my parents.  It's just a simple desk with a slide out drawer for your keyboard and a little drawer. It looked like this, just ask a desk.  We got the little printer table with it too.

It was good to us for about 3 years and then something changed.  Jealousy.  I was looking at everyone nice desks in blog-land and was not digging our hand-me-down anymore.  What to do?!

Did someone say paint it?? That's correct! I decided to paint it.  I've read enough "how-to" blogs to believe I knew how to sand and paint a desk. I was ready! I got my sanding sponges, I laid down some tarps, I changed into sweats and an old t-shirt and started sanding away!  I sanded.  And sanded. And sanded some more.  Then I noticed all my efforts weren't doing anything. The desk wasn't real wood. Ugh! So I did what we Pal's do here when we have a home reno project question: call my dad!!

Growing up my dad pretty much gutted our house and rebuilt the inside of it.  He expanded rooms, created closets, insulated walls, built stairs, painted, pretty much, you name, he did it. And now that he's retired he does some handyman work.  It's great to have someone to go to whenever we have questions about house stuff.

My dad suggested priming the desk and then painting it.  So, Mr. Pal went to our local hardware store and picked up a can of primer.  I crossed my fingers and got to painting.  It worked! The paint stuck to the primer! I was so happy I got to refinish a desk just like all the other bloggers to.

Originally, my plan was to have the desk white and then paint blue circles interloping on the top.  It would have looked really cool, but also would have been pretty time consuming.  Also, I'm not that great yet with painting straight lines, so I knew my circles would be a bit wonky, and not really circles.   So, the desk sat, plain white for a week, a month, then a few months, until finally Mr. Pal asked when I was going to finish the desk.  Ok, I can take a hint!  And, now with all my free time I can get it done!

So I went into the garage and stared at the desk.  Circles were out, but I wanted some kind of design on the top.  Hmmmm, I got it! I'll do a Chevron-type pattern! It's easy and I can use painters tape to keep my lines straight! Oh happy day!  So I just measured out my lines, taped it off and painted alternating colors of zig-zags.  I chose blue & green since those are the colors of the master bedroom, which is where the desk is going.

Once the lines were completed I added a pull to the little drawer on the desk to class it up a bit and Mr. Pal & I lugged it up stairs.  Here she is in her little nook!

I love it! I know it's not perfect, but I'm proud to say I did it.  Here's a close up of the lines.

Here's the new pull I added.  It's just an acrylic pull found at any hardware store.

 Now all I need is a lamp.  Since the desk is in an alcove not much light hits it, so I'm on the hunt for a lamp I can refinish.  Yeah, I got bit by the refinishing bug! :)